Alameda County Judge Arrested for Possible Elder Financial Abuse

By
Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney
|June 25, 2012

Judge Paul David Seeman, of Alameda County Superior Court, has been arrested and charged in connection with the theft of at least $1.6 million for his elderly neighbor. This theft is alleged to have taken place during the period from 1999 until 2010 when the neighbor died.

When Anne and Lee Nutting were banned from their home in Berkeley due to the home being deemed uninhabitable because of hoarding, Seeman who was just an attorney at the time, offered to help them with their legal troubles. Within a month he won durable-power-of-attorney over the couple having claimed he found a million dollars worth of stocks and uncashed checks inside their home.

When Lee Nutting died a year later, Seeman set in motion his plans to begin stealing the estate assets. What is disturbing is that this theft continued despite the fact that Seeman was moving up in the justice system eventually being appointed as a judge. He had taken over almost all of Anne's financial affairs including putting his name on joint accounts and naming himself as the transferee upon death on her investment accounts.

The investigation into Seeman's misdeeds only began after Anne hired another attorney to prevent him from taking control of her home. Once that attorney got wind of how Seeman was handling his fiduciary duty as power of attorney, he notified the police dept. suspecting that felonious deeds were taking place.

Judge Seeman is currently being held in a Santa Rita jail with a $525,000 bail attached.

Anne Nutting did the right thing by contacting another attorney when she knew things were wrong. If you suspect wrong doing on part of someone is supposed to be taking care of your estate matter in your best interest, please do contact a professional Los Angeles Attorney as soon as possible.

*This blog entry was not written by an Attorney and should not be constituted as professional legal advice.

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